on Horesh and Zibli

14 years old, she walked into Israel with her baby brother. 

They had caught a train from Baghdad to Beirut, and from there, they crept in the night closer and closer to the border. The border to freedom.

17 years old, he was smuggled into Israel on the back of a vegetable truck. He was the oldest of 7. He came alone.

They had known each other before. Back in Baghdad they slept on the roof of their buildings, dragging dirty mattresses up flights of stairs for a chance at a small evening breeze in the sweltering heat. His father was the chief Rabbi, her father - who knows?

And with them came the secrets, the stories, the anecdotes, the recipes - well - not the recipes. For there were no recipes. Just loving mothers in tiny kitchens. The mothers hold the secret to the most amazing Iraqi food. Hamin and Shakshuka and Lebane and Borekas. The most incredible creations.

It was a different world. A simpler world. or a more complicated one? When his mother came, she carved a hole in her wooden trunk in order to save a few precious pieces of gold and pearls. Today, my mother wears it and we live in ignorance of the stories it holds.

The families joined at the hands of Yitzhak and Aliza, the melding of two complete sets. There were many multiples between them - Yitzhaks and Moshes and Avrams galore. He was drafted to the army and stayed there many years. It was a good job. a job with a purpose. 

They gave the couple an apartment. a small room in building H entrance 2. They met the three couples surrounding them, all four pregnant wives, all four army husbands. The babies they had in turn, and this is how they grew. together. as one family. Three generations later, they are still the best of friends. Their children and their children's children grew up as cousins, not as neighbors. for they were no longer neighbors, but the connection remained true and strong.

The Jews are not a religion. They are not a culture or a way of life. They are not the food they eat or the prayers they say or the clothes they wear. They are all these and more. They are a people. A strong-willed, incredibly stubborn, bravely loving people. They are a family. And together they thrive.